


Better Than The Rest

by prettyonthethrone



Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Coven
Genre: F/F, Fluff, what else do i do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 20:23:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20441993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettyonthethrone/pseuds/prettyonthethrone
Summary: From inside the universe of She Might Just Be Mine.





	Better Than The Rest

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Love That Girl by Raphael Saadiq.
> 
> Set 2-3 months after the epilogue of SMJBM.

“Can I do the powder sugar?”

“Yeah, baby. Not too much, though.”

Misty keeps her voice low as she passes Violet the powdered sugar shaker. They’ve been awake for nearly an hour now, following the plan they’d had in the works for a few days to surprise Cordelia on her birthday.

She watches as Violet pours just enough sugar over the gorgeous plate of French toast.

“Perfect.” Misty drops a kiss to Violet’s head. “Now I just need to get her coffee ready and then we’re all set.”

Five minutes later, the two are walking as quietly as they can up the stairs. Misty is carrying the breakfast tray, complete with the French toast, a fruit plate, two birthday cards — one from each of them — and a coffee made to perfection. Violet trails at her feet, carrying two of the gifts they’d gotten for Cordelia.

“Ready?” Misty whispers, and Violet nods.

Cordelia is awake; Misty knows as much. She had, in fact, woken her girlfriend up herself on this morning of her 35th birthday. Quietly, just as the sun was rising, Misty had dipped under the sheets of their bed and made herself comfortable between Cordelia’s thighs.

Afterwards, and after Misty had given Cordelia exactly thirty-five birthday kisses from her stomach to her forehead, she made Cordelia promise to pretend to be asleep when she came back in with Violet.

Violet whispers back that she’s ready, so Misty counts to three, and the two of them begin singing Happy Birthday just as Misty pushes open the bedroom door.

“Happy Birthday, Mommy!” Violet cries as soon as the song is finished.

“Oh, my goodness.” Cordelia is grinning from ear to ear, now sitting up against a mountain of pillows. “This is the best birthday surprise ever!”

Misty sets the tray of food down on her lap, using its legs to prop it up, and Violet makes herself comfortable at Cordelia’s side.

“And you made me French toast!”

“Uh-huh!” Violet beams. “And we did your coffee! And we bringed presents!”

Cordelia wraps an arm around Violet and kisses her daughter’s forehead, deciding not to correct her grammar. Violet was already growing up fast enough to make Cordelia’s heart ache; she knew she’d soon miss the days when her baby girl mispronounced a word here and there.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” She looks between Violet and Misty, who offers a wink. “I love you both so much.”

“Are we gonna give her the presents now?” Violet asks Misty, who grins.

“Why don’t we let her eat, first? Then we can do presents.”

The three of them take turns taking bites of the homemade breakfast, but it’s mostly Cordelia and Violet doing the eating, since Misty insists she’s not hungry.

When the plate is nearly clear, Violet brings up presents again, and Misty agrees with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

As she moves the tray from in front of Cordelia, Cordelia reaches out to cover her girlfriend’s hand. She offers a questioning, if sympathetic look, but Misty’s only response is a more convincing smile before she carries the tray over to the side table. Before Cordelia can think on it any further, Violet cries out,

“Okay, Mommy, time for the first one!”

Cordelia takes her time in marveling over both gifts - the gorgeous dress she’d nearly drooled over during a shopping trip with Misty and Violet once, and a chic new pair of reading glasses for days when she stared at contracts for hours.

“Now the last one!” Violet cries. She jumps onto Misty’s back, clasping her hands around Misty’s neck. “We have to give her the last one.”

“You’re right, sugar,” Misty laughs, “we do.”

Cordelia grins. “But how could anything top what you already got me? And this beautiful card?” She holds up Violet’s handmade creation.

“It’s better, Mommy,” Violet insists. “Now, close your eyes.”

Cordelia complies, so Misty fishes the small jewelry box out of her pajama pant pocket. She looks up at Violet, whose blue eyes are wild with excitement, and quietly pops the box open.

“You can open your eyes now, Delia,” Misty says, so Cordelia does.

It takes her all of two seconds to look down and see the open velvet box in Misty’s hands. Her mouth falls open and she looks between the two of them. Her eyes well with tears.

“Cordelia Goode,” Misty says, her voice strong and smooth. “Will you marry me?”

Misty knows from the facial expression on the woman across from her that she’d successfully surprised her.

They had, of course, discussed marriage. Ad nauseam, in fact. Cordelia had wanted to talk through everything, from their work schedules to how they would co-parent to dealing with Hank. Misty knew her girlfriend better than to read that as paranoia or fear of their relationship working out; on the contrary, attempting to micromanage and predict was Cordelia’s own way of showing she cared and setting them both up for success.

Misty had enjoyed the conversations and understood the sensible reasoning behind them, but she also craved spontaneity. With the holiday season soon approaching, she knew that Cordelia would be expecting a Thanksgiving- or Christmastime proposal.

Certainly not in early September, just over a year after they met.

“Say _yes_, Mommy!” Violet cries from where she’s perched on Misty’s back.

Cordelia laughs, and the motion pushes tears to roll down her cheeks.

“Yes!” She says, “Yes, I will marry you.”

She barely gets the last words out, because she’s framing Misty’s face in her hands and kissing her. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” Misty says between kisses. She takes the ring out of the box and slides it carefully onto Cordelia’s finger, and Cordelia has to physically focus on not completely dissolving into tears so that she doesn’t alarm Violet.

“It looks so pretty on you,” Violet says, making both Misty and Cordelia laugh.

“You think so?” Cordelia uses one hand to wipe her face and extends the other towards her daughter so that she can get a better look at the ring.

“Uh-huh.”

“So you knew about this, too, huh? You little secret keeper.”

Violet shows off her smile, which is missing two of her bottom baby teeth. Misty takes both of Violet’s hands in hers and swings her to sit in her lap, kissing her cheek once she’s there.

“She was a very good secret keeper.”

Cordelia grins and leans in to kiss Misty again, and then Violet. “I love you both so much.”

“It was the best present, right?” Violet asks.

Cordelia feigns being deep in thought. “I don’t know, I really did love my birthday card.”

“_Mommy_,” Violet groans.

“Yes, it was the best present,” Cordelia finally laughs. “Now, come here and snuggle with me.”

Misty helps Violet out of her lap, and Violet throws herself into her mother’s arms while Misty gets settled next to Cordelia. She dips down to kiss her new fiancée, and opens her arm so that Cordelia can nestle closer to her.

“Let me see it again,” Violet says. Cordelia gives her her hand, ever amused by her daughter’s - admittedly genetic - adoration with beautiful jewelry. “Wow. It’s so pretty.”

“It is,” Cordelia agrees. “Misty did a good job picking it out, huh?”

Misty presses a kiss to Cordelia’s head in response, but Cordelia tilts her head up to get her mouth.

“A really good job,” Violet says decidedly. She sits up to change positions, and ends up straddled somehow between Cordelia and Misty, who are still curled up together. “So, now Misty gets to live with us, right? Because you’re married?”

“Well, we’re not married yet,” Cordelia explains, biting back a smile. “But, yes, Misty will live here with us.”

The thought alone thrills Cordelia. Ever since the summer started and they’d told Violet about their relationship, Misty had slept over more nights than she’s spent at her own apartment. It had been wonderful and convenient and exactly what they’d been waiting for, but Cordelia still wanted to maintain some sense of boundary for Violet’s sake.

Not that the six-year-old noticed any different. She was overjoyed to have Misty occasionally take her to school in the mornings. Misty would walk Violet to her new First Grade classroom, leave her with hugs and kisses and wishes of a good day, and then head to her own Kindergarten room.

Now that they’d soon be married, Cordelia’s stomach flutters with the idea of being able to set a routine and relax into the reality of that being their life.

“And then she’ll never leave,” Violet cheers.

“Never ever,” Misty promises.

“So, how come you’re not married yet?” Violet asks, brows wrinkled in confusion.

“Well, usually, after someone asks another person to marry them, they wait a little while to plan a wedding. And then they get married at the wedding,” Cordelia says.

“You have to wait?” Violet frowns. “I want Misty to live with us. I don’t want you to wait.“

Cordelia looks up at Misty, who pushes the corners of her mouth down and offers a shrug.

“But—“ Cordelia starts.

“If you want to wait, let’s wait,” Misty says. “But, if you want to get married today, I will do that, too.”

A grin slowly spreads itself across Cordelia’s face. “You want to get married today?”

Misty laughs and dips down to kiss her. “I wanted to marry you the day I met you. But, yeah, today is fine.”

Cordelia thinks for a few seconds, and then dissolves into laughter.

“Let’s get married today,” she says, and she doesn’t think she’s ever seen Misty or Violet smile wider.

. . .

“I literally had to kick him out of the showing! Fucking ass-wipe. Men are trash. Well, except Will.”

Cordelia snorts. “I can’t argue with you on that.”

“Did you call me for something?” Coco asks. “I mean, you know I love FaceTiming just for shits and gigs, but you seem like you have something to say.”

“I do, actually,” Cordelia says, and she can’t help the enormous grin that takes over her face. She moves her left hand to be in perfect view, so that she knows it’s taking up the entirety of Coco’s phone screen.

Coco’s shriek actually makes her jump.

“You_ bitch_! You let me talk about work! _For almost ten minutes!_”

Cordelia giggles and waves her fingers so that the light reflects off of the gorgeous ring.

“Oh, my god. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. You’re engaged! _Holy shit!_ Babe! Congrats! Where is Misty? Oh, my god. This is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened.”

Cordelia moves her hand so that her best friend can see her face again. “She’s in the shower. That’s the other part of my news,” Cordelia says, still grinning like a school girl. “I hope that you’re free this afternoon, because we’re getting married.”

“_Today_?!”

“Today,” Cordelia says. “We just don’t want to wait. We want to be together.”

Cordelia doesn’t know how she didn’t predict Coco bursting into tears, but she’s hardly surprised when it happens.

“Co,” Cordelia giggles.

“_That’s the most beautiful and romantic thing I’ve ever heard_,” Coco sobs. “I’m so happy for you.”

Cordelia waits a few seconds for her to gather herself, because she expects that what comes next will prompt a whole new meltdown.

“If you - and Will and Jack, of course - can meet us at the Courthouse downtown at three, Misty and I want you to be our witness, Co. Are you free?”

Coco wails like Cordelia had killed a dog in front of her, and Cordelia has to laugh at the sheer and completely honest dramatics of her best friend’s personality.

“Am I free?” Coco cries. “I would cancel my own wedding for this.” She uses her free hand to wipe at tears. “Three o’clock?”

“Yep,” Cordelia says, grinning. “Our appointment is at 3:30.”

“Oh, my god. I’m not going to have time to get a new dress for this,” Coco says in realization. “You were supposed to let me redeem myself this time! You know I hated my Maid of Honor dress.”

Cordelia laughs and rolls her eyes. “I’m not getting a new dress either and it’s my wedding. You’ll live.”

Coco sniffles. “I’m so happy for you, Cords. I love you so much.”

“Thank you, Co. We’ll see you guys at three?”

“We’ll be there. Tell Misty I love her?”

“Done,” Cordelia promises. “Love you.”

. . .

Misty drives them to the Courthouse, and the excitement among the three of them is almost palpable.

Violet, who had picked out her white, ruffly dress all on her own, bounces so much in her booster seat that Cordelia wonders if she’d eaten pure powdered sugar while she and Misty were making breakfast earlier.

Cordelia had opted for one of her own favorite numbers, a floral dress that went down to her feet and, frankly, made her feel very much like herself. Misty had chosen an ivory jumpsuit, subtly appropriate but still authentically Misty.

As they walked inside, Violet with a hand in each of theirs, Cordelia knew she’d never been so happy in her entire life.

While Violet makes herself comfortable in the small waiting area, Cordelia and Misty fill out the necessary paperwork given to them by the county clerk.

Misty looks over at Cordelia, who still can’t keep herself from grinning even as she fills out the most mundane of details.

“Hey,” she says, just loudly enough for her almost-wife to hear.

Cordelia turns her head and her eyes find Misty’s.

“You have the prettiest smile I’ve ever seen.”

Cordelia’s smile widens and Misty leans in for a quick kiss, but it’s interrupted by Cordelia’s sudden giggles.

“We’re getting married!” She says.

Misty laughs, too, then. “Yeah, we sure are.”

“Thank god for Kindergarten,” Cordelia says, and Misty grins.

“Thank god for Kindergarten.”


End file.
